Observance
by JayneRulis
Summary: Bella's new hobby has her finding out more than she bargained for. AU/AH/OOC Rated M for Language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Much love to the peeps at Ravelry & Unicorn Unlimited, Ravelry Fan Fiction, Saturday night chat group, I bow down to Knittingfynatic & Betafishy, thanks for letting me bother you endlessly. I heart you all hard.**

This story is rated M for Language & Future Lemons.

All Twilight and the Characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter One: Observance**

Normally I am just leaving my office at this time and heading to a bar for Friday night drinks with co-workers, but here I sit. On my ass. Bored out of my ever-loving mind and sober.

One look at my right foot, bound in that off-white club of a cast, and at the garish pins inside, holding my ankle together, made me want to gag. A week ago, had I been paying closer attention to where I was going, and less to my neighbor's gossip, I would have seen the curb and I wouldn't have shattered my ankle. Stupid curb.

The only cool thing is that it takes me only five minutes to get to work now. That's the amount of time it takes me to get from my bed to the wheelchair and over to my computer setup. The computer used to live in my office, but the wheelchair I was given didn't fit through the doorway of the small room. So my neighbor helped me set up the computer in my dining room. Up til a week ago, I lived in a one-bedroom apartment; now I live in an efficiency apartment _within_ my apartment.

Fuck, I'm pathetic.

I decided that I would partake in my new obsession, people-watching. Besides pwning people in Halo 3, this had become my favorite new hobby. I had been living in this apartment for almost two years, and only now had I realized how fucking entertaining it could be to watch and silently intrude into strangers' lives.

From my large apartment window, I could watch the comings and goings of people in the courtyard of the former warehouse that was now large loft apartments. The old building was in the shape of a U; I lived on the left-hand side on the second floor, facing into the open courtyard below. I could see my neighbors that lived on the right arm and those who lived in the center section too. It was a prime location for being a peeping Thomasina.

Even before I made it to the window I could hear the burly man's muffled voice carry through the courtyard below. His new wife, the leggy, blond bombshell, was doubled over in laughter. She had just apparently hit him with a large sponge that was full of soapy water because the big guy had a wet spot on the front of his shirt. The duo had taken their cue from the unusually warm weather and decided to wash their cars. They both looked like they loved each other very much, and in some ways I envied them both so badly.

I had no one. I was alone. My father was a retired police detective for the city, and my mother was remarried and living in some other state with a much warmer climate. She was one of those "give her a moment and the wind will change her mind" kind of people. I was as shocked as anyone when she told me the day I graduated from college that she had found someone. That someone turned out to be a twenty-seven year old, tan-skinned baseball player. Yeah. Good luck with _that_, Mom. My dad was always the quiet, strong one. A fourth-generation police officer, he was devastated when I was born a girl. He kept telling the "crackpot" doctors that they couldn't see anything on those stupid fuzzy black-and-white ultrasounds and had tricked him into thinking I was a boy. He taught me how to fish, as well as the rules of baseball. He was always the one to patch me up and take me to the hospital when I fell or cut myself with the scaling knife or got the lure stuck in my thumb. Dad would laugh and tell me that I was "snips and snails with a touch of sugar and spice." This childhood created a monster. An overly self-sufficient monster who was currently very lonely.

But right here, right now, it was just me in my apartment, and if it wasn't for my friend who lived across the hall, I would be a hermit, locking myself away to work on web designs and only coming up for air-- and sushi. I can't live without my spicy tuna rolls and sea urchin.

The boisterous man with the childlike face boomed with laughter down below in the courtyard, pulling me out of my thoughts. You could see his eyes sparkle all the way up here on the second floor. Blue. _Damn_, that's hot. Mischief suffused the features on his boyish face; he had taken the hose and aimed it right at his new wife. The blond did _not_ like this new development. She turned on her heel and ran the other way, squealing his name in such a loud voice that I could actually hear her through the windows.

Without warning, a tinkling melody filtered down and crept into my ears.

Ah, The Piano Man.

His muse was apparently back. It'd been so long without the sound of his baby grand that my ears had started to go through withdrawal. The Piano Man lived on the third floor in a spacious loft apartment. An _expensive_ loft apartment. It looked down onto the courtyard like mine, but because he was at the bottom of the U, so to speak, he could see everything from his lofty perch. Frequently we would be honored with evidence of his musical prowess; the music seemed to pour down through the rafters and cracks in the walls, not through the windows. It was magic.

Since I'd been unable to get out of bed without assistance these past few days, I'd missed my daily glimpses into his world. Normally I'd catch him in passing as I spoke on the phone with someone, cooked dinner, or waited for a friend or family member to make a rare appearance at the apartment. I would catch his dark eyes and when I would finally be able to regain movement, or the ability to talk, all I wanted to do was to take another hit of him.

I didn't know his name; I didn't have to. I almost didn't want to. It suited him that he lived high above the rest of us, frequently coming to the window to peer down upon the peasants like some uninvolved God watching his creations scurry hither and yon. He was my nameless, untouchable ideal, and somehow I secretly hoped I was his.

I watched the window for a sign of life, something more than just the sound of piano keys being hammered over the tight wires.

I felt like those wires. Edgy, wound tight.

His music was just starting to swell. He wasn't done; he'd be there pounding away for a while and catching a glimpse of eye candy would have to wait. I let my eyes wander as his music became the soundtrack for my latest foray into voyeurism.

My eyes drifted down to the doctor and his wife. They were one of the older couples in the complex. He was an emergency-room physician and she was a painter. She had a gypsyesque aura around her. She would stand in one of their rooms wearing just her underwear and holding a very full glass of red wine in one hand, twirling around like a prima ballerina with a paintbrush in her other hand. Large swaths of paint would ripple from the brush onto the huge canvases. Some days she would be following large moving men, shouting orders at them about how they needed to be careful, how her art was one of a kind. She rightfully worried about her art; most artists usually do when they put it in someone else's hands. If we could tell people how to frame it, light it, and admire it we would, but then again, my art was on the computer, and hers were installation pieces; once they were at their destination, they weren't going anywhere.

I often wondered if some of the art in the hospital ER waiting rooms were hers. Most people wouldn't notice that the painting in the waiting rooms changed monthly. Most people don't trip over just the thought of their shadow, though, either.

With my frequent trips to the ER, I had the pleasure of meeting the gypsy's very attractive husband. Unfortunately, everything in the ER happened so fast that I rarely caught a name, even with my frequent flier card punched so much it looked like Swiss cheese.

Once you met the good doctor you never looked back. He had bright blue eyes and dark, honey-colored hair with traces of white that made his classic, old-Hollywood looks sharp and slightly modern. He looked like he should have been rubbing elbows with Jimmy Stewart.

Hell, even Mr. Stewart would have been jealous.

_Damn_, I needed to get laid.

As the good doctor made his way out of his apartment, I watched and felt slightly ashamed as they kissed goodbye. Even though I was watching everyone's private moments like they were part of a new reality show, _their_ love was so private and, and so theirs. It wasn't as new and in-your-face as the newlyweds' was. The newlyweds were rough and passionate, feeding off each other as if they were each other's only meal. But with the doctor and his wife, it was just as passionate, just more personal, timeless, deep, and it seemed to affect the doctor to his core. It rooted the ever-flighty gypsy. It was her anchor.

After the kiss the gypsy paused as her lover left, and as soon as the door shut, she went right back to a canvas that was sodden with four blocks of colors like a gigantic "Simon Says" game.

It only took a few moments before the doctor made it out to the courtyard carrying a briefcase. He looked very distracted by his Blackberry, engrossed in something on the screen. He walked briskly through the yard and didn't see the lanky young man, clad in a dirty pair of black jeans and a skinny black tee-shirt, walking towards him. His hands were buried deep in his pockets and his eyes looked no farther than a pace ahead of himself.

The two men didn't see it coming. The doctor was going to run headlong into the lanky young man. If I were a betting woman, I would have had money that the doctor would have knocked the man on his ass. Lanky Man looked like he hadn't eaten in days, and the good doctor had a good five to ten pounds on him.

I would have lost. The two hit like a rubber ball hitting a brick wall.

It was as if the lanky man was built of stone. The fair-haired doctor landed hard on his ass, his briefcase and Blackberry flying in opposite directions. Scrambling to his feet, he went scurrying for his things. The Blue-Eyed Beast stopped washing his car-- and wife -- and raced over to help the good doctor since his briefcase had also flown open and documents were slowly littering the courtyard.

The young man didn't offer to help or look sorry. In fact, I think he may have actually burst into flame, his anger was so sudden and so intense. Without any warning, the man's face went bright red, and he barked out an insult to the good doctor, then quickly stalked into the complex. I could follow his movement due to all the windows as he worked his way through the innards of the apartment complex. Just then a light flew on in a first-floor unit, and I could see the young man as he slammed the door behind him so hard I could have sworn I felt it from here. Shortly after that I could see him in his kitchen, sans jacket and pants, getting a beer. Part of me wanted to bleach my eyes at the sight of his dirty underwear and part of me was blinded by how ghostly white his legs were. A small, third part of my brain was shocked at how muscular he looked. Lanky man was apparently eating, but his body was rich with thin strips of muscle pulled taut over his entire frame. It dawned on me at that moment that the scene had gone quiet and the soundtrack had stopped. My head whipped around to the third floor.

There he stood in his god-like glory. His long slender fingers were wrapped around a matte black coffee mug and he was wearing dark jeans and a gray button-up with the sleeves rolled up his surprisingly muscular arms. The other hand pressed flush against the window panes. He was watching me. His face was contorted in an angry scowl. I gave him a small smile and a wave. I kept it small because if I waved any bigger, I probably would have hurt or embarrassed myself, or both.

His face transitioned from a scowl into a warm and inviting half-smile in an instant. Our eyes met, and his eyes seemed to glitter in response. Dear Lord, he was hot. All too soon, a loud roaring noise broke us out of our staring contest. A slick black and silver crotch rocket slid into the parking area of the apartment complex. It parked in the spot that only two minutes ago held the good doctor's car. I'd completely missed him leaving. The engine turned off and a spry young man hopped off and started to walk over to the blond and leggy wife. She flung her arms open wide. The motorcycle man who was wearing cowboy boots, a motorcycle jacket and much to my approval tight jeans, peeled the helmet off and a shock of curly blond hair cascaded out. He hugged the blond bombshell and made muscles man laugh. I turned my head back to see the piano man, the surveyor of all, only to see an empty window.

Well, fuck. Doesn't _that_ just ruin a girl's day.

I rolled backwards, and gently turned around to my desk.

Guess it's time for work.

_Damn it._


	2. Chapter 2

2

I woke with a start the next morning. The sun was beating down and heating up the living area of my apartment. I looked down and realized that I had a small pool of drool on my Wacom board and that was a gigantic no-no.

I quickly pulled my shirt up and wiped off the board. I grabbed the pen and scribbled around just to make sure it worked. It did, so I was still safe.

I looked at the small clock at the top of my MacBook Pro. It was almost eleven o'clock in the morning. _Shit!_ Alice, who is my closest friend, neighbor and all around savior, would be there for lunch in a little bit. I turned on my TV and put on a episode of CSI to kill the silence in my apartment before turning myself towards the bathroom. I still had to shower- as much as one could in my predicament - and get dressed. Alice would kill me if I tried to do it myself, so I just did as much as I could without injuring myself.

The entire pin thing was a hassle. It fucking hurt. I had crutches that allowed me to bounce from one area to the other, but that also hurt. I was only permitted to use them sparingly because, well, my doctors knew me and they knew that I would probably impale myself with the metal crutch. Instead they decided to stick me in a wheelchair. Alice had come to my rescue and selflessly piped up, saying she would help me at home when the doctors asked if I wanted a home nurse. My love for the petite woman grew tenfold that day. She knew how uncomfortable having a stranger in my house would make me. She also knew I hated having people in my things, just as I really hated depending on others for help. It felt fucking weak and I hated that feeling.

"Theaters are like nightclubs. They should always keep the lights off," Catherine Willows said from my television on the table.  
"This is the last art house left in Vegas. I saw Baraka here, on a double bill with Koyaanisquatsi," replied Gil Grissom.

I rolled back to my desk setup and started to see how much damage falling asleep in the middle of a project caused. I quickly got distracted by my work and a knock on the door scared the hell out of me.

"Coming!" I yelled out as saved my work and rolled to the door as quickly as I could. I really should get Alice a key. I stood as much as I could and braced myself against the wall. I used the wall to take a half a hop over to the door and unlocked it, leaving the chain on. When you're the daughter of a police officer, you trust no one. Ever.

Especially when you open the door and are greeted by an unfamiliar smiling face, a bouquet flowers, and a box.

"Hello?"  
"Isabella Swan?" I visibly winced. I hated it when people used my full name. Only when I was in trouble with my father did that name come into play.

"Yeah?"

"I have a delivery for you."

"Um... Okay, hold on." I shut the door and bounced over to the coat tree to grab my purse. I quickly picked up the can of mace from inside, hopped back over to the door, and slid the chain off. I was starting get tired from bouncing and started to get irritated at feeling like Tigger. I opened the door and the delivery guy from a local florist carefully walked in. I really needed to sit the fuck down.

"Um," he started, not knowing where to put the delivery.

"Can you put them on the kitchen island?" I asked him moving to the wheelchair that was calling my name and practically throwing myself into it. I watched at the older man walk in carefully and place a box and a black ceramic pot of orchids on my kitchen island. He turned and smiled before starting for the door.

"You have some nice friends, miss. Have a nice day!" He said as he closed behind him. It wasn't closed for long. The door opened back up there stood my friend, my savior, my Alice.

"Hello, sweetie," She greeted me walking over and gave me a small hug. Alice was a force all her own. She seemed to know everything, and was a total gossip. There she was, her ink black pixie cut with a streak of hot pink racing through it, wearing an old tan Boy Scout button up shirt, a pair of dark denim capri pants, with red patent leather pumps to finish the look. The short sleeves of the Boy Scout shirt showed off just the legs of her tattoo of a pinup girl named Sally on her shoulder. That's Miss Sally, bitches.

Alice worked as a tattoo artist down at Her Madge's, a high end tattoo shop. She was a fan-fucking-tastic artist and if I didn't get sick at the smell and sight blood, she would have drawn all over my body like I was sheet of art paper. I was always in awe of her talent and to get an Alice Brandon Tattoo on your body was epic in this city.

"What'd you get?" Alice asked as she shut the door and then helped me turn my chair around. She took the mace from my hand and practically bounced back to my purse to put it away. I don't know how she managed to bounce in heels, but I knew I'd fall on my face if I tried it.

"Dunno. Flowers, obviously," I said, motioning to the beautiful orchids. They were like none I had ever seen before. You usually see the white ones with bits of pink or light purple flowers. These were deep purple, nearly black. I was in awe of them and loved the color.

Alice had quickly snatched up the card and was pirouetting around me in small circles.

"Hells Bells, did you get a boyfriend in the ER?"

"When would that have happened? While I was screaming in pain or blitzed out of my mind going under for surgery? Just open the card, Tiny." Alice stuck her tongue at me. She quickly tore the soft green envelope open and pulled out the card. I carefully stood and took a kitchen knife to the box. The contents were wrapped in tissue paper the same green color as the envelope.

Alice flipped the card over several times.

"What's it say?"

"Not much, just 'Try to be safe'."

That set off mild red flags in the back of my head. I broke open the gold sticker seal over the tissue paper and opened it up to see if there was more to this puzzle.

I was aghast at the treasure inside the box. Inside was every sickies dream come true. The box held everything you ever wanted when you were sick at home in bed: sugar butter cookies, cinnamon apple crisps, vanilla creme-filled sandwich cookies, dried apricots, chocolate fudge squares, tiramisu creme-filled chocolate wafer rolls, assorted teas, and fruit flavored hard candies. There were also a deck of playing cards and a word game book, and just under it all, with legs folded, was a beautiful bamboo bed tray.

I sat back into my wheelchair, stunned.

"What?" Alice asked, slightly alarmed at my look. She quickly looked into the box and started to laugh as she pulled things out and set them on the table. "Holy shit, Bell! Dibs on the fudge squares!"

Before I could do anything Alice had a fudge square wedge into one cheek and another one in hand. I just stood there with my jaw hanging open, swinging in the wind.

"What? I haven't had lunch yet!" She said with a mouth full of high end fudge squares from who knows who. I was horrified.

"They could have been poisoned?!" Alice's eyes rolled as she swallowed another bite of fudge.

"You. Stop watching so much CSI" she said pointing to the television.

"I don't watch too much CSI," I said quietly, my eyes shifting to the floor.

"Twenty bucks says you even record the series with David Caruso," Alice said triumphantly, as I could hear Gil Grissom's words quietly filtering in from the living room. Alice popped the last bit of fudge into her mouth. Fuck.

"Shut up and hand me a fudge square."

"That's what I thought." Alice stood and looked me over. Her tiny head tilted to one side like the dog from HMV.

"What?"

"I have a present for you. Do you trust me?"

"Yeah." I do trust her, with everything.

"Go get a movie. I'll be right back." She darted out the door to head over to her apartment. I rolled over to my DVD collection and pulled out the old standby: _The Princess Bride_. It was just one of those movies I could watch over and over again. It was completely typical and overdone but Alice and I loved it. Alice quickly came over with her mug full of multi-colored sharpie markers.

"Sit, get comfortable."

"What are you doing, Al?"

"Well... I know you want a tattoo, so I'm going to turn your cast into one giant tattoo. You honestly think I would allow that prime chunk of artistic real estate go untouched?" This thrilled me to no end. I wheeled over to the couch as fast as I could, my leg already propped up and ready to go. Alice quickly went to work decorating my cast.

~*~

It was very, very late. Alice had gone home hours ago after leaving the story of Buttercup and Wesley drawn out on my leg.

I was alone again. Alone and in pain. Alone, in pain, and very awake. I'd taken some pain medication and was now waiting for it to kick in. I decided to pull up to the window and just let the sights calm me down a bit.  
Not surprisingly, no one was out among the grass and non-working fountain tonight. The courtyard was dark. The heat had calmed just enough earlier in the evening that apparently everyone had decided it was date night and had gone out. Lucky bastards.

My attention was pulled more and more to the mysterious package sitting on the table and I caught myself staring at it. My red flag alarms should have gone off a little louder, but the hopeless romantic in me loved the fact that I, Bella Swan, had a secret admirer. I smiled a bit at the idea as I went back to watching the city lights.

But the pull was too great. I stared at the package again from across the room. What-the-fuck-ever. That shit never happens in real life. Something had to be up.

I'm not sure who sent this or whatever the fuck they were selling, but I wasn't buying. I'm not some sucker to be the butt of a joke. Fuck that.

I sat there pondering my luck, or lack thereof. I also was sulking because there was no one around to keep me company, only Alice when she didn't have to go to work. Because taking care of cripple best friends doesn't pay your electric bill.

A soft glow caught my eye. I turned are noticed that it was coming from Piano Man's apartment. I could see shadows play on the ceiling of his apartment and they were moving around the apartment quickly. From the shape of the shadow, I could see it was Piano Man. Just the thought of him being close by sent a shock wave right through me. You couldn't miss that shock of hair unless you were blind. That was "hold on for a good fuck" hair. I desperately wanted to hold on tight.

He quickly came into view and all the breath went out of my lungs. Piano man was dressed in a black tuxedo. It was very well tailored so it fit every bend in his body, boxed his shoulders and made his impossibly long and lean body look even longer and leaner. His long fingers gave one side of his white bow tie a tug and it collapsed apart. He laughed, and I noticed at that moment that he wasn't alone. I suddenly felt ill. A woman dressed in a black party dress was there with him. Her dress glinted and glimmered with sequins and crystals and a small organza top crossed over her chest, its tiny cap sleeves covering her pale shoulders. It reminded me of an old Hollywood movie. Her strawberry blond hair was pulled to a chignon the base of her long slender neck and secured with a white blossoming flower.

I watched in complete horror as she hugged Piano Man and pulled the flower out of her hair. She then pulled her hair out and ran her manicured nails through it, shaking it out. Her back was to the window and I felt like someone had just slapped me across the face when I saw her. She was not only in a place I have had dreams about since I broke my ankle, but laughing with and touching Piano Man. My Piano Man. I watched as she walked away from the window and I looked away as I quietly tried to make peace with the fact that even the Piano Man had someone. I gave the window a final glance before I wheeled away from the window. He was standing there, watching me. He was fumbling with silver cuff links. His collar was undone and the bow tie was now gone. When our eyes met, my breath caught.

His right hand pressed flat against the glass. His eyes looked me over like he was looking for something. I let my eyes wander, looking around left and right making sure that I hadn't missed anything. He looked hurt. What the hell! Why in the world would he look at me like I'd just killed his puppy? I'd never done anything to him; hell, I'd never even talked to him! It confused me.

His eyes darkened and I fought with everything I had not to cry. I was so confused with him. One moment he was laughing and joking with his beautiful girlfriend, freezing my heart into a solid mass of ice; the next moment he's all up on the glass like a sexy as hell suction - cup Garfield cat, sending my insides back to molten lava. I gave him a half smile and decide that it was best if I moved away from the window.

I rolled back and grabbed my book from the table next to my couch. It was a book that I normally wouldn't have picked out for myself, but it was one of the few available in the hospital gift shop and the only one that looked remotely interesting. It was about a librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and through his wife's time line.

I turned on my iTunes and let Adele's smooth voice take me away as I started to read. Just as I started to get lost in the book, a flash ripped me from the pages.

I looked across the courtyard to the doctor and the gypsy's apartment. A white-blue light blazed through one of the rooms. I couldn't see who was it was, but they were looking for something.

The flashlight hit the floor and the light spun around the room. At that moment I could see that the lanky man who'd knocked the doctor down earlier was padding around the gypsy's art studio. He was only wearing a pair of jeans, but all my brain was reminding of was the image that Lanky Man had given me earlier of his legs and skivvies. I visibly shuddered and someone would have wondered what was up if I wasn't here alone. It made me resent being alone all the more.

I couldn't turn my eyes away now. I wanted to know what he was doing in there. I knew that I needed to move but I just couldn't. He was touching everything, pawing through her canvases and touching their antiques. I put my book down and rolled closer to the window. I needed to give the police better directions on what apartment to go to when I called them. It was also the stupidest thing I could have done. My movements gave away my position and Lanky Man's blond head shot up and looked me square in the eye. His look was murderous. He was crouched down, looking under a table, when he just stopped, and, without moving his body, turned his head in my direction. He tilted it to the side like he was trying to figure out how to break me. Suddenly, he turned on his heel and ran out of the apartment. I watched for a few moments trying to see if he was running back to his apartment.

I waited for some sign of him when suddenly my apartment door flew open. Alice had shut the door but I hadn't locked it behind her. She had left when I was preoccupied with giving the potted orchids a home on my bookshelf and it had totally slipped my mind. _Stupid Bella!_

The doorway was blocked by a tall form. I tried to back away but I had wedged the wheelchair next to the couch and couldn't go anywhere. I started to struggle to get up and move. I was able to stand only to be pinned against a wall my some force. I heard the door slam and felt the wall against my back in the same instant. How he was able to cross the room in under a second I will never know.

His dirty fingers gripped my throat. I could feel the unclipped nails start to dig in and cut my flesh. He smelled horrific and I started to gag. He smelled of dirty clothes, urine, blood, and beer. His face was close to mine and he sniffed as if he was breathing me in.

"You little bitch."

"Wha-" I started, only to have him grip my throat tighter. The room was starting to spin and getting darker by the second.


	3. Chapter 3

_3_

I don't know who trained this mother fucker, but he alternated pressing his thumb into my jugular vein to sedate me, then releasing so that he could keep me conscious to talk to me.

I'm almost positive Lanky Man not only drunk but also was high. On what, I had no idea. High, angry, and strong. A REALLY bad combo. And right now he had me pressed up against my kitchen wall where no one could see me. He had shut the door so not even Alice could know what was going on if she passed by.

I was going to die, I was sure. My feet were tangled up in the wheelchair and that fucking hurt. I didn't scream in complete agony, and I don't know how I was able to accomplish that feat.

He kept telling me over and over that I'd seen nothing, and not to go to the police because he would kill me if I did. At this point I would have promised anything if he just would let me live. Things went dark not long after.

Before I knew it, Alice was standing over me, her usually calm voice sounded hoarse and frantic.

"BELLA!? Bella? Can you hear me, sweetheart?" Alice's voice was very close, like she was right on top of me. I tried to open my eyes but I felt like shit and couldn't.

"She's not really waking up, just get here, okay?!" Her voice now sounded like she was far away from where I was laying. What the fuck, am I stuck in slow motion all of a sudden? Why couldn't I open my eyes?

"I couldn't find the doctor." She was closer again, sounding completely frantic and scared. I could feel hands touching me, my wrist, my face.

"Baby, wake up, It's your dad." A gruff sounding voice that instantly soothed me spoke these words. My body relaxed and unlocked, allowing me to talk and to slowly and carefully open my eyes.

"Dad?" I rasped out. I felt like wanted to throw up. I could still smell Lanky Man.

"There ya go." I could feel my father's strong hands guiding me up into a sitting position against the wall that Lanky Man had pinned me against just a short while ago.

"What... what time --"  
"It's about eleven-thirty, kiddo. I was coming over today, remember? Alice found you. The door was unlocked. What happened? You fall out of your chair?"

"_Talk and I will kill you._" I could hear the awful ragged voice in my head again, hissing the words at me. I could still smell his foul stench in my memory.

"Yeah... yeah, I... I got the wheel stuck," I stuttered quietly. I was completely shaken. I was ashamed and completely horrified with myself. My father had prepared me for something like thisat happening and I totally failed at defending myself. I had been a helpless little doll instead of a cop's daughter. Fuck. Dad helped me up back into the chair and looked around. He stepped back and allowed me to roll forward. My head was spinning again. I rolled to the bathroom and took a look at myself in the mirror.

My hair was everywhere; some of it had matted around my neck, covering a scratch from Lanky Man's rancid fingers. I quickly dug around my medicine cabinet for some hydrogen peroxide and a cotton swab. I felt dirty and abused, and I welcomed the god-damn-mother-fucking pain that was dripping out of the wet, white puff of cloud in between my fingertips. White foam appeared in three little half moons on my neck and I welcomed the sting.

"Hey, Alice, I need to take a bath. Can you help me? Dad, you want to order pizza?" I hollered out from the bathroom as I dabbed at the scratch. Alice appeared into the doorway a minute later, her arms wrapped around her small frame. In her hand was a black trash bag and two large plastic rubber bands. I smiled at her and I could visibly see her relax at my expression.

"You okay?"

"Um. Sure, Bells," she answered quietly. She was lying; She knew. She always knew.

"I'm okay, Alice. Nothing happened," I said just as quietly. My eyes darted away from her face and straight to the floor. "Please. I swear to you all he did was scratch me. He yelled at me and that was it. I had gotten my foot stuck in my chair. I was the one who fell out of the chair."

"Who was it?" she said kneeling down beside me. She helped wrap my leg with the plastic bag.

"The blond guy from across the courtyard. The dirty one. He was drunk and on something." Alice let out a big sigh. She had sat with me on occasion, watching the ants in the ant farm, and I had pointed him out to her. I remember one day last week when I had pointed him out, and we watched as he ran up to the doctor, pleading with him over something. The doctor just cold shouldered him. I thought that Lanky Man was going to deck the doctor, when Doc Hollywood himself did something so uncharacteristic. He suddenly spun on his heel and yelled at the younger man. We couldn't hear anything but faint muffled sounds, but it was a very passionate conversation. Ever since that day, Alice never was comfortable with Lanky Man. She went out of her way not to go through the courtyard because of the possibility of running into him.

I just needed to start fresh, and step one of this new plan was taking a bath. I turned on the hot water and maneuvered myself out of my chair. The steam filled the small bathroom as I sat on the side of the tub.

"I'm gonna go. I have to open. Can we talk later?"

"Yeah. Most definitely."

Alice's petite hands wrapped around my neck and she kissed my cheek. "Please. Be more careful, and I won't say anything to Charlie."

"Thanks, Ali," I said, giving her hand a squeeze. She waltzed out of the bathroom, and I could hear her saying her goodbyes to Charlie. As I heard the door shut I stared into the water and thought over the last few hours. A shiver ran up my spine as I remembered the feel his hands around my neck, his foul breath on my cheek. I quickly leaned forward over the toilet and threw up at the memory. I started to cry and prayed to the lord that the water was drowning me out. After I settled some, I shut the water off before it got too high and spilled out of the tub when I got in.

Lanky Man hadn't raped me or beat me up, thank God. All Lanky Man had to do to rattle me to my core was threaten me. That's all it took for me to give up. I quickly lowered myself into the tub and let my leg sit on the edge of the tub to keep it dry. I felt weak.

I scrubbed my skin hard, using the loofah to try to scrape every last bit of Lanky Man off of me. The water felt divine as I scrubbed. I wasn't going to let him break me. I knew that by taking a bath I ruined all chances of proving he attacked me. I knew one thing was for sure: Alice was right. I do watch way too much _CSI_.

Fuck, I needed to get a grip. Pull myself up by my bootstraps, as my father would say. I finished bathing and dressed myself in a pair of pajama pants and a tank top. I was grateful that Alice had the foresight to move some of my clothes to the bathroom. I pulled on a robe, settled into my wheelchair, and worked to discard my trash bag cast protector.

As I unwrapped my leg, I looked Alice's present again. She had drawn a stylized Buttercup and Wesley kissing in the Forbidden Forest on my cast. Buttercup's bright red dress had a flame at the hem just like in the movie. More scenes from the movie graced the leg: Fezzik asking about peanuts, Inigo with his sword drawn and ready. I had totally squeed when I saw it after Alice had finished earlier. I was going to have a hard time parting with the cast when it was time for them to cut it off. God, I loved that movie.

I left the bathroom and noticed that my father was admiring my orchid on the bookcase next to the dining room table.

"Nice flower," He said. Always the poet with words, my father.

"Thanks."

"I ordered a your favorite."

"Cheese," We said in unison. That faint essence of how things used to be, when I lived with my dad, brought me out of my haze.

The rest of the evening dad and I talked about current events over pizza and beer. This is how we would spend his days off when I was younger. I didn't have to cook and he could sit back and relax and just enjoy conversation with his daughter. He would tell me stories about things he had seen while on the job, editing out the rare gory detail or two. _And this is why I can't stop watching CSI, Alice.'_

This wonderful man sitting next to me at my kitchen island is the reason. The man who diapered my ass, watched me take on my first steps, my first falls, my first ER trips, my first crayon drawing, my first book report, my first love, my first heartbreak, my period, my abandonment issues. He never asked anything of me other than letting him take care of me and worry like parents do. He was the only one who did. Since Mom was never there, I knew I was lucky to have at least one parent in my family who cared. He was the reason that I longed for steady relationships but kept them few and far between.

I smiled as I tore into another slice of cheese pizza. I listened to him tell me how he had joined Billy and Jacob Black at our friend Seth Clearwater's pinning ceremony. Jacob was a police detective for the city and he and Seth had followed in the footsteps of their family members before him. It was very obvious that my father, the retired police chief, was incredibly proud of Jacob, and now Seth. I felt slightly jealous at his new revelation. I didn't like sharing my dad, irrational though the thought was. He was all the family I had left.

"Billy asked if I would give you this." He handed me a business card. It had Detective Jacob Black's home and cell phone number on it.

"Thanks, Dad."

"No problem, kid. You okay if I book out of here? Game is on tonight."

"Yeah, Dad. Give Billy my love and tell him thanks," I said, gesturing to the card.

~*~

Several hours later, the sun was setting and I sat on next to the window watching out on the courtyard below. I was slumped to the one side of the wheelchair with a blanket pulled over my lap, a handful of dried apricots, and my book accompanying me in my voyeuristic past time.

Cowboy Boots was back with the Blond Bombshell. They were out in the courtyard drinking and cooking on the Blue Eyed Bear's massive silver grill. Cowboy Boots was sitting in a deck chair, his feet propped up on the table having a beer. I realized in that moment of watching them that Cowboy Boots and Blond Bombshell looked alike. I wondered if they were related. They had the same gold colored hair and steely blue eyes. I nibbled on a dried apricot while I pondered this.

A strange, different feeling crept into the back of my brain and started to tingle. I felt oddly comfortable yet completely on edge. I could feel the hairs on my arms begin to stand on end and I looked around at the windows of the other apartments. Lanky Man's apartment was dark and he was nowhere to be seen in the darkened windows. No life flickered from Doc Hollywood and the Gypsy's apartment either. Boots and Boobs were too engrossed in their conversation to even notice me. I looked up to Piano Man's apartment. Lights popped on and shadows danced on the ceiling.

He quickly walked into my view as he walked over to put some things onto his piano. Without any warning, he turned and looked straight at me like he was expecting me. How did he even know I was here?! He walked right over to the window and put a long fingered hand on the glass, just like yesterday and the day before that. He was wearing a dark blue tee-shirt and jeans. The shirt was thin and clung to him, showing off his large, muscular arms and tight pectorals. I felt like I was going to melt right out of my chair at the sight of him. I had to have looked foolish, staring at him and drooling in my pajamas and a bathrobe.

He smiled as he looked at me. It was infectious. I couldn't help it and I smiled back and brought an apricot to my lips. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. My eyes didn't leave his as I tore into the sweet apricot when it touched my lips.

His lips parted a touch. I watched his Adam's apple bob hard as he swallowed;, his chest widened and collapsed as he breathed in heavily. He ran his free hand through his penny-colored hair and chuckled. I smiled wider and gave a short wave with the apricot in hand. Keeping one hand on the glass, he raised his hand up and showed me his index finger, motioning to me to wait a moment. My eyes shot from the long players fingers to his gorgeous green eyes. Obviously he found the answer he was looking for in my face, because he tore himself away from the window and walked back into his apartment where I couldn't see him. A few moments later I saw him at the side of his piano writing something. He was rushing. He spun and put what looked like a page from the newspaper up against the glass. He had taken a black permanent marker and wrote quickly on it, dark enough so I could read:

_**ENJOYING MY PRESENTS?**_

I sat and read the note quietly aloud and sat back in my seat. I looked down, trying to figure out what he could possibly mean. My brain just didn't comprehend things at the moment because it was in a lust filled haze due to the pair of kelly green eyes currently staring at me. I was surprised I could actually form sentences, let alone think at this time.

I looked down at my lap at the two apricots I had yet to eat and it dawned on me. Holy shit! Piano Man was my mysterious admirer?!

NO!

_YES!_

WHAT THE HELL!

I took the apricot and gestured to the Musically Inclined Sex God, silently asking if these were what he meant. His eyes glistened with excitement, his mouth twisted in high amusement at my actions, and he nodded.

Oh My Apricots.

I gestured back to the Angel of Sex to hold on and rolled my wheelchair back carefully. I saw him push his head into his window so he could try to see into my apartment better. Perv. I chuckled to myself at the thought of Piano Man being a pervert.

I picked up what I needed and rolled back into the window area. I quickly erased my to-do list from my dry erase board, that sat next to my makeshift computer desk and wrote down a quick note:

_**206 – 555 – 7891**_

I rolled back to the window and held the board up for him to see. His smile grew as he read my note. He reached for his hip, pulling the large flat phone off of his belt, and quickly typed in the number. When he leaned his shoulder into the glass I waited, picking up my cell phone from between my thigh and the chair.

It only needed to ring once. I pressed the 'send' button and held it to my ear, knowing the next thing I would hear would be nirvana.

"How did you do it?" Sweet lord, I'm gonna need to change my panties. His voice was better than all of the dried apricots in the world.

"Fell. Missed the curb," I said with a smirk.

"Those things are painted yellow for a reason." Fucking smartass. His face was alight with humor. Dimples that distracted you, white teeth that blinded, and when he bit his lower lip, I thought I was going to pass out. I struggled to breathe and come up with an answer for him.

"Yeah, I've got one better: this one was red." His laugh made me want to pass out from euphoria.

"You need to take better care of yourself," He scolded. Okay, your God status has apparently gone to your head. That was a bit asshole-ish.

"Ha, I'm doing the 'try anything once' route at the hospital. I got to have surgery and pins this time around. Cast I've done before. Nothing new in that department," my voice hinting at snarky. Okay, back down, Bitch-ella. He's still trying to get to know you. All you have is a one sided love affair though inch and half thick glass. No need to jump to conclusions when there's finally a response from the other side. "Thank you for your gifts and flowers. That was all very sweet and above and beyond anything anyone should have done, let alone you." My voice was sincere. I looked up at him and saw his face crumple.

"What do you mean above and beyond anything anyone should have done?" His tone was angry, like he was pissed off at what I'd said, and I had no clue why.

"I trip and fall just looking at a painted white line on asphalt. I do it so often it just seems silly for people to buy me stuff."

"So you don't think that you should get flowers at the very least because you have metal pins jammed into your ankle?" Well... fuck me. Got me there, sweetheart. I didn't think that at all.

"Well... no?"

"Dear, from where I stand, you deserve a heck of a lot more. You are stuck at home, bored out of your mind. I can see it in your face; it's like reading a novel. I just thought you would enjoy some treats while you are stuck. Plus, it was a way for me to get to know you better."

The other shoe has dropped, and I was in shock.

"_You wanted to get to know me better?"_

_-

* * *

_

Okay I hate A/N. Seriously. I never know where to put them. I think it breaks up the story.

**Sarah and Stacey**. Thank you, for everything. I bother you two to no end... and you have yet to complain to my face about it.

Everyone at **UU**: thanks for letting me be your Mod... I'm having a blast at it. I hope you enjoy my company as I do yours.

My chapters are short, because I have a job, and a one year old... and I'm writing two stories at once. I hope you all are getting a kick out of this story. Its a bit of a learning experence for me, and I am really loving it.

So Thanks.

Jayne.


	4. Chapter 4

Piano Man, whose real name I found out was Edward, and I stayed up talking on our phones for a little while longer. We both learned we had an affinity for classic movies, Jeff Buckley, and Seth McFarlane. I could feel the pain killers kicking in and I started to feel sleepy. After my third yawn, Piano—Edward laughed lightly at me and told me that it was time for bed. I was still at my window; he had walked into the apartment, where I couldn't see him.

"So, are you doing anything tomorrow night?" His voice softly purred.

"You mean tonight? Or Friday night?" I asked looking at the clock on the wall. It was way past midnight. I could hear him moving around through the phone. Quiet music began playing in the background from his end. He reappeared at the window dressed now in the same tee-shirt, but his dress pants had been replaced by a pair of black pajama pants. "I really can't leave the apartment. Doctors have me on house arrest," I continued. I watched his expression for some hint as to his line of questioning. His dark eyebrows scrunched together. He was looking at me, but I had a feeling he was staring at my leg more than anything. He sucked in a big breath of air as he raised his head and took in his surroundings, focusing on something off in the distance.

"Let's say Friday night. I'll come to you."

"Okay," I was able to choke out through my shock.  
"Six-thirty sound good?" He asked a smile slowly graced his face. I paused and looked to my toes sticking out of the cast. I was fighting my inner sixteen year old from screaming.

"Yeah, sounds great."

"Goodnight then, Bella. Sweet dreams." I smiled, because I was almost positive my dreams were going to be filled with piano playing.

The next morning I woke up cranky, sore, and overly defensive for no real reason. I should be on cloud nine with my impending date with Edward tomorrow, but something was eating at the back of my brain, gnawing there like I totally missed the exit on the interstate. I felt stupid and alone, and I didn't know why.

I needed my Alice to reassure me and make me calm because I'd started to talk in circles and riling myself up. I decided that I was too worked up mentally to do any real productive work today, so I let the computer stay dark.

I felt like throwing something. I was angry that I had let Lanky Man in like that. I knew I was in for it when Alice showed up, and that could be any time now. I wasn't sure who was more rattled at the attack, her or me. I was grateful that she had kept quiet until we could talk more about it without my father around. Though I was sure that she had a good idea of what had gone down anyway.

"_Fangs were flying, capes were torn  
Hell hath no fury like a Vampire scorned  
Number one rule in this game:  
Never call one by his real name" _

Apparently, Miss Alice has been playing with my cell phone. Only she would put "Vampire Club" by Voltaire as her ring tone.

"Hello, dear," I answered with mock sugar in my voice.

"Enjoy the song?"

"Yes. Funny. What's up?"

"I am getting noodles. You in?"

"Yeah. Some Pad Thai would be awesome."

"Done. Be there soon!"

"Okay."

"Bella," her tone turned serious. "We will be having the talk that should have happened last night, just so you know. So get your excuses over and done with before I get there. You owe me that."

"Yes, Alice," I said quietly. She was very angry at me, I could tell, and I deserved her wrath.

I waited for Alice at the window. Nothing had moved in almost a half hour and it was driving me slowly insane. Then, as if the players in my own personal soap opera had heard my thoughts, The Blue-Eyed Beast's massive off-road jeep rolled into the parking area. He got out and opened the back door and began picking up several bags of groceries and walked briskly into the back door of his apartment. I could see Bombshell embracing him through the doorway before taking a bag from him to help.

The sun pushed overhead and made shadows shrink till they hid under tables and chairs. I looked over again at The Beast's home and noticed they had closed their blinds. Only when blinds were closed did I feel dirty watching the world below me. The closed blinds made me feel like I had been caught stalking them. In essence I was stalking, and I felt a little guilty for it. But what was I supposed to do when I was holed up?

So Bombshell and the Beast were... busy. Lanky Man was passed out on his bed. I could see his fully clothed body curled into ball, his back to the window. I could see bottles, both prescription and alcohol, strewn around his bedroom. I was almost positive that he was curled around one as he slept.

I started to pull away from the doorway, knowing that Alice was going to be here soon. That's when something caught my eye as it glinted in the midday sun.

A full glass of red wine.

I wasn't sure how long it had been out, but the apartment across the courtyard was still and come to think of it, I hadn't seen Doc Hollywood or Gypsy for a few days. But red wine was something that normally didn't stick around with Gypsy; she always finished her liquid dinner, always. Maybe they were home. I sat there and watched the apartment a bit more. That's when I saw the glass. It was at such an angle that if you were above me or next to me you would miss it by walls, or the blinds. One who hadn't been stuck in a wheelchair, condemned to watching that what was going on around her for a while, might have totally overlooked it. But I have no life. I had only been here a week and it stuck out a sore thumb. Some giant strobe light of duh.

A glass of wine, sitting on their butcher block kitchen table. It was the only thing on the table. Gypsy just didn't do that. She would never let a glass go. I've seen her chug a glass just to go to bed. This is the same woman that cracks open a bottle of wine instead of pouring a cup of coffee in the morning. A full glass of wine just didn't leave this woman's hands. It just didn't happen.

At that exact moment a loud knock hit the door and made me jump. Alice must have finally made it back. I pushed myself to the door and levered myself out of the chair, looking through the peephole and saw Alice patiently waited for me to unlock the dead bolt. I sat back down and quickly unlocked the door and let her in.

"One piping hot order of King Noodles' Pad Thai for delivery!" She exclaimed as she walked into the living room carrying our lunch. I could already tell by her determined expression that there would be no more putting off The Talk. _Yay_.

"Bella?" The tone in her voice didn't match what I thought what was coming. Her tone was worry, like I had some strange Scooby Doo style monster behind me, not angry and determined for The Talk.

"What?"

"What's wrong? You have this really strange look on your face." She started towards me.

"Come here," I rolled back to the window and Alice took a chair from the dining room and sat next to me. "You know how Doc Hollywood and Gypsy have been gone all weekend?" She nodded. I pointed to the windows. "Do you see anything strange over in Doc Hollywood's apartment that is just, off?"

Alice looked for a moment before her jaw dropped open.

"There is a full glass of wine next to her painting!"

Bingo, CSI Willows. Time to make a call.

~*~

"Detective Black," a deep voice rolled out of my phone. This did not sound like the boy with jet black hair, jean shorts, torn white tee-shirt, and bare feet who would chase me around the big rocks down on La Push Beach. This was a man, a man who _almost_ sounded like his father.

"Jake?" My voice sounded small, almost childlike.

"Yes?" His voice sounded was confused now.

"Jake, it's Bella. Bella Swan."  
"Ditz-a-Bella?!"  
"Yes, Jake and Bake... it's me." Alice snickered from the kitchen as she was plating our dinner.

"Long time!"

"Yeah, it has been. Charlie keeps me up to date with things though."

"Yeah same here."

"I heard you were at Seth's pinning?"

"Yeah, you should have seen the rest of the pack, they were so proud of him. He's going to make a fine police officer." Seth was one of the last of a group from the reservation that had joined in law enforcement. They wanted to protect the people and the land that they grew up in. They were a tight group before they became part of the brotherhood of the big blue line, and now they were even tighter.

"He will. Dad was proud of him. I wish I could have been there."

"Yeah I heard about your ankle."

"I'll survive."

"Some things never change."

"Ha, Ha."

"Your dad said you have pins in your ankle?"

"Yep, pins, plate, surgery, cast – the whole nine yards."

"Damn, Bells, you giving Billy a run for his money? You really need to be more careful." Hmm. Where have I heard that before?

"I know. Hey listen, I have a favor to ask you. Could you stop here on your way to or from work tomorrow? I need you to stop by to look at something, as a detective."

"Sure, Bells, what's up?" He sounded very interested now, all cop.

"I have been stuck looking out my window ever since my accident. So I see people, particularly the people that live in my apartment complex, and I learn about their habits and stuff. This one woman is a drinker – big time. She does nothing before drinking a glass of wine, and she never lets a glass go to waste."

"Bells, I'm not AA."

"Shut up and listen to me. Well I haven't seen her or her husband all weekend."

"Okay, so they went on vacation."

"That's what I thought, but today there is this full glass of red wine sitting on the kitchen butcher block table. It's just unusual for them. I think something is wrong."

"Okay, well I can't just waltz into someone's apartment because of a glass of wine."

"Come on, Jake, something is wrong over there."

"Fine, I'll stop by your place later tonight, but I can't promise anything. I sure as hell can't break down their door just because you've gone all paranoid and pulled a _Rear Window."_

"That's all I'm asking, Jake. Thank you!"

Alice walked into the living room carrying our lunch. I could already tell by the return of her determined expression that there would be no more putting off The Talk.

She set both our plates down with a thunk, picking up a chopstick and waving menacingly with it in my direction as she spoke. I cringed as her arm flew dangerously close to my face; I sort of liked having two functioning eyeballs. "You need to tell your detective friend what you're going to tell me right now. I know damn well that you didn't fall. No one falls and gets scratches around their neck like that. Not to mention the fact that the contents of your purse were all over the floor. What did that guy want?"

"I saw him."

"What?"  
"I _saw_ him, in Doc Hollywood's apartment."

"When?" She had stopped eating and her chopsticks clicked to the floor in shock, flinging food over by the TV. I scowled at a carrot now seeping soy sauce onto my carpet.

"That night," I explained, setting my chopsticks down. I put my food down on the table and shoved my hands between my knees. "He was all over the apartment with a flashlight. I was watching Piano Man – Oh my God, Alice, Piano Man!" I hadn't told her about Edward yet. "He --"

"Bella, later! Blond guy," Alice said, folding her arms and glowering at me, effectively cutting me off. Her tone brooked no arguments. Oh, well. Distraction had been worth a try.

"Sorry. I'd just finished watching Piano Man." I explained to Alice everything I had seen that night, from the flashlight and Lanky Man in the apartment, to him pinning me against the wall. Alice just sat there, still as a marble statue, soaking in everything I had relayed. "Okay, glad we cleared that up!" I said, with false brightness when I was finished, hoping she wouldn't see through my diversionary tactic, but she pinned me in place with a Look that was laser-like in its focus. No throwing her off the scent, damn her terrier-like tenacity.

"Why didn't you want Charlie to know?"

"He didn't hurt me, and I didn't want Charlie to worry," I argued. "It's stupid, I know, but Charlie has been under enough stress with me after my ankle. I didn't want him to put 24-hour guards at the gimp's door. The guy was just looking for something to steal for his next hit." I shrugged, hoping I was convincing.

Alice's eyes narrowed and her lips thinned. "Bella, you _know_ that he would have wanted to know. He would have hunted this guy down just for touching you."  
"That's just it, Alice. He would have acted first, asked questions second. I really don't need the rest of the apartment complex knowing that I've been watching them ever since my accident. I know that it was wrong not to let Charlie in on what had happened, but doing it now isn't going to change things. Just _let it go."_

It was a moot point. Neither of us was going to win. Alice got up off the couch, picked up the rogue carrot, and threw it away in the kitchen. She was still angry. But I had a feeling my news about Piano Man would brighten her day.

"So...um. I need your help."

"With what?" she said curtly.

"I, um... have a date." I said in a voice so small I was almost wasn't sure she heard me. Suddenly Alice's face was almost nose-to-nose with mine.

`"A _what?"_ Coming from anyone besides Alice, tiny, pull-no-punches dictator that she was, the incredulous tone of the reply would've offended me.

"A date." I could feel my cheeks starting to flare up into bright pink. "With Edward. Tomorrow."

"Who the fuck is Edward?"

I pointed to my orchid.

"Wait --the dude with the to-die-for fudge squares?"

I nodded. "He is none other than the guy who plays piano here at the apartments."

"Hot Piano Guy?!"

"Yep. He saw me eating the apricots from his care package and asked me out on a date," I said triumphantly, and watched Alice process this information.

"Sweet action! Those were fucking awesome fudge squares," she exclaimed, her body practically vibrating with anticipation. She pranced to the window and turned to look over where Edward's apartment was, chuckled, and spun on her heel to face me. Then in a sing-song voice she said: "Wear protection."

"Alice!" I wanted to die on the spot.

Alice and I got caught up in watching _Practical Magic_ on TV. Alice had danced her way over to the windowsill with a bottle of beer singing along too "Lime in the Coconut" and commented that Piano Man was home, and it took every fiber of my being not to race over to the window like a schoolgirl and look. She chuckled lightly and I gave in to the schoolgirl, rolling over to join her at the window. The courtyard was again quiet, and Doc Hollywood's empty apartment creeped me out. Seeing that full glass of wine still made me uneasy. I looked over to Edward's apartment to see that the apartment was lit, but the blinds were closed. I wonder what he was doing in there.

"Wonder what he's doing?" Alice said pointing a beer bottle up at Edward's window. I really had no idea, but as I opened my mouth to say something snarky, the door rattled on its hinges as someone knocked. It sounded like the rat-a-tat of an automatic, the knuckles rapped so fast.

Alice and I looked at each other. Alice took a last chug on her beer and opened the door; when she saw who was on the other side, her eyes widened and her cherry-red mouth popped into a perfect _O_ of surprise, and the beer bottle, now forgotten, slipped from her fingers and shattered on the floor.

Standing there, framed by the doorway that seemed too small for his tall, broad-shouldered frame, was a man in his mid-twenties with burnt umber skin and glossy coal-black eyes. His perfect mess of inky hair was cut just short of the collar of his un-tucked white oxford. His dandelion-colored tie was loosened and his sleeves rolled up over his muscled forearms. His jeans looked tailor-fit but casually distressed and his scuffed brown dress shoes had seen better days. He would've looked like an overgrown frat boy but for the worn, tan leather shoulder holster and sleek black Glock 29 9mm. Total cop.

"Oh, _fuck me_," I heard Alice whisper as she dropped to the ground, trying to cover up the fact that she was referring to the man at the door and not the loss of her beer. I chuckled lightly and watched as my old friend Detective Jacob Black helped my new friend with the broken bottle pieces. Once the mess was cleaned up, I introduced them to each other.  
"Alice, this is my friend from home, Jacob Black. He's a detective with the local police."

"Hello, there." Jacob's voice was deep and teasing. He extended a large hand out to Alice and she took it. "I'm Jake. Bella and I grew up together, and even though I sent her away, she called me because she _still_ can't get over the love we had--"

"According to Bella, that 'love' was in second grade and you broke up with each other when you found out there would be kissing involved." Alice retorted with a sassy grin. "Nice to meet you, Jake. I'm Alice Brandon." She'd obviously regained control of her faculties, and remarkably quickly; meeting Jacob tended to provoke extended blushing, giggles and general idiocy in women young and old. Forced to endure each other's company as young children when our policemen fathers had gone fishing, we'd evolved into good buddies as we grew older, and I was glad he had found his niche within the department. Jacob's family made up a significant portion of the police force in this town and were thrilled when he made detective so quickly.

Alice quickly discarded the broken bottle into the kitchen and then excused herself to her apartment across the hall. Jake just laughed when the door shut.

"You sure know how to pick them, Bells," He said leaning over and giving me a hug. Damn! Someone was a gym rat under those clothes. Hugging him felt like trying to get fresh with a cement wall

"Quiet, Bruce Banner, you startled her with your freakish massiveness."  
"You win a Webby award with that kind of attitude, meanie?" he said, poking me in the shoulder.  
"Ow! Yes. My sorry attitude and I are slowly conquering the design world, one Webby at a time." I had won a few web design awards in the recent past; I was surprised that he even knew what the hell a Webby was. Charlie was stricken with verbal diarrhea in his old age. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; as much as my father and I strove to respect each other's independence, he would be very attentive of my goings-on, with half his friends being members of the police force.

"So why am I here?" Jake said, plopping his oversized body onto my couch. It made an audible noise of protest, unused to supporting someone as large as him. I rolled over to the big picture window and started to tell him all about my post-accident voyeurism: how that before my accident I couldn't even tell you what color the walls of my apartment were; how this accident had forced me to slow down and take more interest in my surroundings. He stood and joined me when I started to point out apartments and the people who lived in them. I started with the loving newlyweds, the Blue-Eyed Beast and the Blond Bombshell. I told him how nice and helpful they'd been, and how the Bombshell had a brother who showed up in cowboy boots on a motorcycle. How they talked for hours while the Beast was away. How I could tell that the Bombshell hated to be by herself and missed her family.

I moved on to Lanky Guy, who lived just above them. I knew he had a drinking problem at the very least, though the prescription bottles hinted at a stronger addiction. Lanky Guy had no one either, coming and going with seemingly no real purpose at all hours of the night and day. I told Jake that I had seen Lanky Guy in the next apartment over, and he had threatened me. When I shared this tidbit, Jake's eyes narrowed and his muscular arms folded, making them look even bigger. I cleared my throat nervously and continued on with my tale, explaining that Doc and Gypsy lived in the apartment next to Lanky Man, how Doc was an attending in the ER and loved his wife dearly, and how Gypsy seemed to have issues of her own. I told him about how I'd heard she'd had a miscarriage a few years back and had never been the same, probably causing her alcohol addiction

I went on to explain that Gypsy was practically OCD with her wine. She would drink almost a magnum a day and not waste a drop. I told him to look into the apartment and tell me what he saw.

It only took a second.

"She left out a full glass."

"Yep."

"I can see where this is out-of-character, in your eyes Bells, but these people are adults. They could have gone on vacation, out of town. According to the letter of the law, they are _not missing_."  
"I know, but something is just not right. Could you please just look into it?" I pleaded with him. My gut was telling me that I was right, that something was wrong; I just hoped Jake trusted me enough to trust my gut.

With a large sigh, Jake looked around at the entire complex one more time. It felt like he was taking everything in, every window, door, ledge, in and out of the apartment.

"Listen, I'll look into it, make some phone calls. If I can't find anything I'll look into stopping over at the apartment and taking a look around, okay?"

Victory! "Yes! Thank you, Jake!" I said throwing my arms around his broad shoulders.

"And once again, Super-Jake saves the day!" He laughed a bit, his eyes scanning the apartments and stopping at Lanky Man's hovel. "You didn't tell Charlie about him, did you?"  
"No…" I said, in a small voice.

"Well, Bells, before this is all over, you will be informing your father what went down the other day," he said. Standing up, he picked me up from my wheelchair as if I weighed nothing and dropped me gently onto my couch before walking back to the window and pulling the draperies shut. Fuck. It was gonna take a lot of work to get those bitches back open. "You also need to _mind your own business._ Try knitting. I hear it's therapeutic,_"_ he said, kissing my forehead. "Just don't stab yourself with a needle. I'll talk to you later, Bella. Good night. Lock up after I leave."

"Yes, Dad," I faux-simpered at him. Jake's dark eyes glowered at me, giving me a _shut it, Bella_ look.

Jake was right. I needed to mind my own, but that's harder than it sounds when you are a Swan.

* * *

Much love to Stace and Sarah... you have no idea how much you two rock. Thanks for dealing with it all.

To the peeps at UU and Twilghted... Rock On...

This was a hard chapter to write, Alice kept giving me shit.

This also marks me having no more chapters just sitting back in my pocket... so the updates will not be as regular as they have in the past... but I promise you that they will not take an entire month to get through.

JR


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry about the extended absence. I felt a bit uninspired, and life also got in the way. But we are better. Not 100% but better.

This chapter was supposed to be much longer… but I had to chop the chapter in half.

Many thanks to KnittingVamp7, you walk on wata luv. Thank you. With out you, I couldn't write, and wouldn't be fit to be a FF writer…

To Shalu Thank you for stepping up and working your magic!

To the ever the awesome peeps at UU, have a cup of tea on me!

Much love to those who have found me through reviews, thank you. It is an honor to have you here, hopefully I haven't kept you waiting too long.

Now on with the show:

* * *

My sleep was restless.

I kept waking from confusing images of the Lanky Man, Edward, Jake, and Alice. They all were having a tea party, and when I walked in they all cheered and threw their tea cups like it was a big Greek party. All it did was make me thirsty for a cup of Earl Gray. I decided to just get up and pour myself a cup when I couldn't sleep anymore . As I waited for the tea kettle to whistle I rolled over to the window, and let my mind wander, only to end up in overdrive and over think shit again. Part of my brain couldn't figure out why this uber-hot piano maestro would want my attention or send me such sweet stuff, and I couldn't help but think part of this was a joke. I caught a glimpse of my own reflection in the window. I was wearing an old, faded shirt that read "Bacon Bowl, Police v. Fire '89"; my dark brown hair was pulled into a messy bun at the nape of my neck, its dark brown color reminding me of tea. Why the hell did I have tea on the mind? The dark brown, almost black color framed my alabaster skin. I had all the makings of a gothic emo kid; all I needed was a permanent case of bitch face and a pissy attitude. My mind was constantly asking:

"What did I ever do for him? How did I attract his attention?"

A smaller voice in my head would tell me over and over again that I was worth it, and I was beautiful, repeating it to myself like it was an old SNL episode with Al Franken's Stuart Smalley. Fuck off Stuart! Oh, wait… there, gothic. Ta-fucking-dah!

Honestly, it didn't make sense. I didn't know many people here, only Alice, and she had introduced herself to me on move-in day; other than that my life was usually very office driven. I hadn't been on many dates in the past. I was always running from one business meeting to another with my laptop in one hand, Blackberry attached to the other. The last date I was on was with a blond guy named Mike from the office. I don't even remember what Mike looked like other than his hair color, because I was too enthralled in my phone with its endless streaming Tweets and pictures between me and a client. After that, dates just didn't happen. I was in motion too often to slow down for any sort of relationship. It took a broken ankle to slow me down enough to appreciate how a relationship started and bloomed.

The high pitched whistle of my kettle pulled me away from the window and my plain Jane reflection. I rolled into the kitchen and was able to hop around on one foot to get milk and sugar. I ended up fixing two pieces of whole wheat toast with Nutella as I let my tea steep. Due to my need for both hands, I had to forgo my usual blue tea pot and matching cup and resort to a lidded tumbler. I filled it, then placed my butt carefully back into my rental ride. I wedged my tumbler between my leg and the wall of the wheelchair, the small plate of Nutella toast on my lap, unlocked the brakes, and spun back around. I rolled over to my computer and popped on some music. Kings of Leon's "Molly's Chambers" blew through my speakers and set the tone for the rest of the day.

After breakfast I cleaned up my apartment a bit. It was already fairly clean, but I wanted to make sure things were just right. Edward said that he would come here and I had no idea what was on his agenda.

During our long talk on the phone, through panes of glass like inmates in our own apartment complex, we decided that he would come over and take care of dinner. What that entailed, I was still unsure. He was adamant about keeping it a secret. Part of me just assumed he had no clue what he was going to do. Just in case my hopeless romantic side won out, I made sure the kitchen was spotless so that if he needed to cook something it would be easily done.

After the front rooms were tidied up, I put my makeup on the kitchen table and decided to pull out the clothes that I wanted to wear so that Alice could give her vote thumbs up or thumbs down. I chose a denim skirt and a billowy silk top in a dark plum color. I would top it off with a black short sleeved cardigan. The cardigan was one that Alice had made me during her knitting phase.

I missed her knitting phase. I always got the best presents, like really soft and warm gloves, as well as scarves. Alice mostly gave me these objects of knitter's affection because she liked the yarn. I had seen her stash sitting in her living room amongst bookshelves full of movies, music, and fashion magazines. She still had yarn jammed into the nooks of the bookshelves, like colorful soft bookends to her stuff. Unfortunately, she had given up with the needles, half a scarf still on them.

As I was putting these things out on my bed, I heard a knock on the door. I wheeled to the living room, and about five feet from the door I could hear Alice singing to herself in the hall. She sounded like a woman after a long night drinking and playing Rock Band: totally off key and a throat full of gravel. I pulled myself up to look through the peep hole; sure enough, she was dancing. That woman couldn't stand still if her life depended on it. I was almost sure she slept on "vibrate."

I opened the door and Alice politely waited a moment to allow me to sit back down and push away from the door before she burst through in all her pixie glory.

"Hello, darling!" She said loudly in a fake old British accent as she pranced into my living room, stopping dead at the sight of the large train box on my table.

"What is that?" Alice asked, pointing to the box.

"What? My makeup case?" Like I didn't know where she was going with that.

"Oh, I thought you were moving in with Piano Man."

"Shut it, Brandon. Yes, I know I don't wear makeup every day, but I do wear it to work. Nothing is as priceless as the face of a geeky programmer who thinks he's got the up and up on the pretty brunette wearing heels, with her face all done up." Alice just shook her head at me as she opened the aircraft carrier sized case. I always got shit for my makeup case. Yes, I had a lot in there. Yes, I never wore a lot of makeup. But I had what I needed, and as an artistic person, I can't resist all the tiny pots of colors for eyes. It's a vice. Sue me.

"Dear God, Swan! You have more makeup in here then a drag queen!"

"Yes, and it's all mine. Every last glittery sparkle."

She just laughed and shook her head.

~8~

It was 4:30, and Edward was to be here at 6:30. Alice had quickly helped me bag up my cast so I could take a quick bath as she looked over my wardrobe choices and set up the hair and makeup caravan.

As I sat in the tub and lathered up with soap, I let my thoughts drift across the courtyard, and how Lanky Man tied into it all. I knew there was a connection, I just couldn't figure out what it was.

Alice called out to me, pulling me out of my Nancy Drew bubble, telling me that I only had an hour and she still wanted to do my hair. As quickly as I could, I got out of the tub and dried off before I went to get dressed; the addition of a lacy bra and matching underwear to my previously chosen ensemble did not go unnoticed.

"Alice, for the last time, stay the fuck out of my underwear drawer. It's a first date, not a burlesque show. Nothing is going to warrant the chance of Piano Man seeing my underwear," I yelled out, quietly adding, "I doubt he wants to, anyway."

"Just think of them as 'lucky underwear,' and why wouldn't he want to see you in a little lace?" She yelled back from somewhere in my apartment.

"Because, half way through our date, he will magically come to his senses… the fucktard," continuing the conversation to myself. At least this time I'll know what color his eyes are, so that was progress.

I rolled out to the living area where Alice had pulled out a bevy of black lidded pots, brushes, and tubes of gloss. Like she didn't know what I was wearing and had multiple choice answers for the test or something. A few moments later of buff, tap, and swirls with the brushes, Alice backed up to take a look.

"Well, how do I look?" I asked my close friend and confidant, watching a small smile creep onto her face.

"I think you need to heal fast, or they are going to need a wheelchair ramp on the third floor." She spun around and cleaned up my large box quickly, throwing things in without much mind or matter. Easy there, Alice, those pots of eye shadow don't come cheap!

I blushed at her comment about the ramp and wheeled to the door as she popped over and kissed my cheek, wishing me luck. Within seconds, I was alone in my apartment. My nerves were slowly building and eating away at my insides.

I knew that Edward was going to knock on the door. I knew he was going to be here at 6:30, yet I still jumped in my chair when three quick and hard knocks sounded on my apartment door.

I quickly made it to the door and pulled myself up to look through the peephole. I watched a distorted eyeful of copper colored hair nervously shift from one side to the other. He checked his watch and then checked his breath.

"Minty?" I giggled at him through the door. His body jerked ram rod straight, then a blush bloomed over the apples of his cheeks from his jaw to his ears, forming an L shape.

"No, cinnamon, if you must ask," He quipped back, a crooked grin taking over the blush. I unlocked the door and threw it wide open. I hopped back and took an un-fish-eyed glance at my date.

He crossed the threshold of my apartment looking shy and trying to swallow down the nerves. Apparently he didn't think spying on him was very funny. How ironic.

He was dressed in a simple white button down, jeans, and a dark vest with pinstripes. His new-penny colored hair was a bit shorter then I had seen him last.

"You cut your hair." It was still a complete mess, though.

"You noticed?" His face morphed from cocky to impressed, then to a contented smile. It was fun to watch his expressions play against his face. Everything he thought flitted across his face like an open book. It was very interesting. "Yeah, um, it kept falling in my eyes when I played," He pretended to play the piano in mid air; I pretended to breathe. His fingers were magical.

"It's nice." I was able to croak out; it was my turn to blush. I could feel my cheeks flare pink. His crooked grin returned as he watched me burn.

"Thank you. Here, these are for you." In his hands sat a bouquet of dark fuchsia orchids wrapped in newspaper.

I took a step to take the orchids, totally forgetting that I was an invalid, only to lose my footing over the small throw rug on the floor.

It was at this moment my brain did a few things.

First, it slowed everything down to a snails crawl, allowing me to bask in the upcoming embarrassment unfolding in front of me.

Then, it spoke.

"SHIT!"

Well, that was wonderful. Nice way to make first impressions with your upper crust, private school mouth. Cue an eye roll so hard you'd think they were going to get stuck.

I was unsure on if I had said it out loud or not. The next thing I knew I was almost an inch off the ground with Edward struggling to stay standing as I rested heavily in his arms. His green eyes were wide with worry, and he was struggling to keep me from dropping to the floor.

"Cinnamon," was the only word in my head.

"What?" He panted, totally confused.

"The cinnamon… it smells nice," I said in a small voice. I was so embarrassed, my face was probably eight shades of red. He laughed and pulled me upright, helping me to my wheelchair.

Edward coughed nervously to draw attention to himself and away from the awkward situation.

"Well, um… Are we ready to go then?" He asked with a kind smile. I smiled back and nodded before the realization hit me.

"What? No. Wait. I can't leave the apartments, remember?" I said, mouth agape pointing to my Warrior Princess Buttercup in her red dress emblazoned next to the dashing Pirate King Wesley on my cast. Even their little drawn on mouths were sitting there agape in his stupidity.

"I know. I have something special planned. Trust me, okay?" His eyes pleaded with me, his eyes the color of soft ferns. They were crystal clear and vibrant, pushing me under his spell in milliseconds. I silently wondered if I could pinpoint his eye color on my Hex color chart. It was starting to become my favorite shade. It was the color of jade, summer grass, pears, coke bottles, and bamboo. The color of money, mint, shamrocks, and the patina old pennies obtain after years and years of use. Take that, Mike. I'm all over the details now, baby.

"Is it okay if I take the helm?" He asked politely as he gestured to the handles of my wheelchair.

I agreed a bit reluctantly. The entire wheelchair thing bothered me in the first place. I liked being independent, and the chair interfered with that. I know he was just being polite and trying to make this the perfect evening, but I also know that both of us are nervous wrecks and I'm a klutz. Obviously something was going to go wrong, so it was best he navigated my chair.

I was quiet and Edward quietly hummed as he drove me down the hall to the elevator. He backed us in, then reached over and pressed the button for the third floor. Were we going to his place? The elevator doors quietly closed and the gears and the cables were loud in our little bubble as the elevator ascended.

I could feel him drumming lightly on the handles of the wheelchair, which was mildly irritating. If I wasn't in the damn chair, I'd probably make a move and silence the tapping by holding his hand.

Just as I was about to reach back and grab his hand to stop the incessant tapping, the doors opened. I expected him to turn us to the left when we exited the elevator, but he didn't. He turned to the right and led me down a hallway that looked like the ones on my floor, with off-white walls and a hardwood floor. The hall was short and it dead ended to a fire the hell was this boy up to?

Edward spun me around so that he could back into the fire door.

"What are you doing, Edward?"

"Taking you to the garden."


	6. Chapter 6 Thank You

Unknown to me, the Garden of Eden was located directly above my head.

The garden Edward was wheeling me was a small roof garden located directly above my apartment.

The rooftop garden was elegant, modern, and clean. The wall that faced into the courtyard was empty and a long teak bench was attached to the stainless steel wall. The walls that faced out were edged in tall bushes that were about five feet in height. On either side of the door stood large aloe plants that were as big as my wheelchair. Over in the corner was a long silver staircase that led up to the third floor roof, where I could see were even more planters.

"Where did you… how?" I couldn't get a complete sentence out to save my life. It all looked amazing. Edward led me to a small deck area that was at the far end of the garden. There was a teak floor and a thick wooden table, surrounded by teak chairs. The furniture was modern and looked very expensive. This apparently is where my first months deposit was going to. I knew that the courtyard was pristine, but this made the courtyard look like a child's playground. That was one of the reasons I chose to be at the more expensive apartments. The owners had sunk a lot of money in turning this old school for the blind into high-end apartments.

"My neighbor, Mr. Molina. He is a retired biology teacher and he devotes his time to the gardens. See up there," Edward started, breaking me out of my stupor. He was pointing to the third floor section of the garden. "He started an organic garden. He keeps showing up at my door with organic tomatoes and last year he had pumpkins for Halloween."

I was shocked. Here growing above my head was an entire eco-system. I was just happy I hadn't killed off Edward's orchid and someone managed to keep this entire second earth alive and quiet. I never noticed that side door, let alone ever heard people walking above my head, so I wondered how many people knew of this oasis. Edward and Mr. Molina were the only apartments on the third floor of the U-shaped building. The building didn't have a third floor on my side.

"He was the one who suggested the orchid, and helped me out with setting things up."

Reading minds again Edward? Wait a minute…

"You talk to your neighbor about me?"

Busted. I watched as the blush returned, covering the apples of his cheeks, flaring up to his ears. His eyes dropped to the ground.

"I… I just didn't want to … I wanted to give you something different." His voice dropped to almost a whisper. "I… I'm sure you get lots of flowers."

I don't think he meant for me to hear that last bit, but I did, and I was taken aback by it.

"Actually, I loved them. I'm rather impressed with the fact I haven't killed it yet. Black thumb," I said with a chuckle, giving him a thumb up and rotating it. He forced a laugh and then his eyes shot back down to the ground. He was either very unsure of himself, or totally re-thinking this entire date ordeal. He rolled me up to the teak table and pulled out a chair for me to sit on. I easily maneuvered out of my wheelchair and sat down on the smooth wooden chair. The table was set with a simple black table cloth, white square plates with white napkins and black wooden chopsticks.

Edward sat next to me after he rolled my ride off to the side. He scooted in and smiled at me.

"This is my favorite restaurant. I go before every performance. It's almost a good luck tradition now," He stated. I just let my jaw hang open. "Have you ever had it?"

In front of us was sushi, glorious and cold. I recognized the take out containers. They were from my favorite sushi restaurant, (make up a name). I couldn't speak. He looked at me and must have mistaken my face for one of worry and fear over eating raw fish.

"Here, it's really good. Try some." He handed me my plate, now full of food, along with a fork. The owner of our favorite sushi restaurant would have stabbed him with this fork had we been at the restaurant. I took the fork anyways, just to be polite. The plate was small and had vegetable tempura, edamame, a Philly roll, and a Seattle roll. Child's play to me. He left the soft pink ginger and the soft green wasabi off my plate. This was a cardinal sin in my book. I loved my wasabi and ginger. I let it go, knowing he obviously had no idea.

I looked over at his plate. He had placed some Alaska rolls, Nijo, spicy yellowtail, and eel. Edward then took some other rolls out and placed them on the larger plate ahead of us. On my side of the plate, more Seattle rolls and Philly rolls. On his I could see Cali rolls, lion roll, Akuma, and Downtown rolls. He also set the pink shavings of ginger and a glob of wasabi and placed them closer to him. I watched as he also took a small dish and put some sauce into it and placed it in between us.

"What would you like to drink? I have sake, some wine… I also have Diet Coke and water in the cooler." He said gesturing to a small gray cooler that was on the floor behind him. I had totally missed when I'd sat down.

"Um. Sake is fine." He smiled and jumped at the chance to serve me. I just sat back and let him. Once we both had drinks I took a sip and had forgotten how delicious the sake tasted. I knew that even though dinner was going to be a little under my tastes, I was going to love it. I quickly snapped up my chopsticks and placed a piece of Seattle roll in my mouth, savoring the flavors of the salmon and avocado. It had been an old standby and my first introduction to sushi when I was starting out on my own. Alice had some for lunch one day and let me try it and I've never looked back.

Soon we were in full conversation over parents and what they did and what we did. I watched him meticulously picked up an Alaska roll with his chopsticks and eat. He then watched as I stopped fooling around. I quickly snapped up a lion roll and popped in my mouth. Edward started to stop me but it was too late.

I gave him a small half smile and when all was clear I pointed to the rolls.

"I love lion."

Edward's eyes got large when it clicked. "Me too," He responded. We laughed at our over-politeness and started to eat off the larger dish.

After we had finished with one bottle of sake, Edward cleared the plates and we sat on the pillows up against the table. The sun was setting and the sky took on a pink-purple hue.

Edward sat next to me; he smiled a bit of a nervous smile.

"So…" He started.

"So."

"How was your day?"

"Fine. It doesn't really change nowadays."

"Oh?" He said, moving so he was sitting Indian style on the blanket.

"Yeah. Get up, roll over to the desk. Do some web design, roll to the kitchen for lunch. Roll back to work, dinner at some point, maybe watch some TV, then bed. Rinse and repeat."

"Oh. I thought… maybe you get visitors or something…" He withdrew for a flash, becoming fixated on his shoelace

.

"Just my neighbor Alice. She's a tattoo artist. She designed my cast." I said, pointing to it and showing it off.

"Nice! Is that Andre?" he asked, coming back out of his shell, he pointing to the inside of the cast. There was Fezik, and Inigo, and the Sicilian, all with their arms crossed.

"Yeah. She did it earlier this week; we had a movie night and she got bored." I said with an embarrassed smile.

We sat in silence for a few moments. I looked over to him; he was looking off at the skyline, the sun setting behind him. The sun's dying light practically lit his hair on fire, shafts of orange light projected through, making it look redder than usual. He looked like he was very content. His calm demeanor ruled how our date was. Comfortable, easy.

We sat and laughed, talked about families and where we grew up, favorite movies, music and why we did what we did. Our talks were about simple things, the weather and local news, and passionately felt things like politics and personal views. We smiled and laughs so much it was starting to hurt my cheeks.

A car alarm in the distance made Edward jump and face where the sound was coming from it was disruptive and annoying. He scowled at it, his mouth almost in a full pout. Edward rolled off his pillow and onto his side, quickly rolling back to me. Music started to play and I noticed a small, black remote in his hand. I looked back and noticed that on the floor, just along the wall, was an iPod jammed into a speaker dock.

We sat listening to the quiet music and just enjoying each other's company. He sat the remote down between us, and I noticed how close his long piano playing fingers were to mine. I moved my hand just enough that our hands would touch, and he quickly jumped and looked down, the blush covering both our faces now. He placed his hand back down, this time over my entire hand. His fingers pushed and laced up with mine, a soft pleased look graced his face, while the muscles in my cheeks ached.

"I'd invite you to dance, but lately it's just something I don't do," I said as his beautiful music captured my attention it was soft in one moment, deep and dark but still happy in others. I felt wrapped in it, its sound protecting me, watching me, keeping me safe. I watched as he smiled and stood anyways.

"Come on." He stood with his foot against my upper thigh. He bent down and wrapped his arms around my back innocently. My arms wrapped around his neck, and suddenly he pulled, lifting me up so I was more or less standing. He pressed me up against his body and my twelve year old inner-child started to giggle uncontrollably. My outer twenty-eight year old self was quietly shocked at his strength. I mean, I'm not four hundred pounds or anything but he just picked me up like I was a stuffed animal. It was startling at the ease he whipped me around. I could feel just how strong his arms were as they flexed under my body.

"Keep your foot back," he said softly, only inches away from my ear. My body shivered, and my arms rippled with goosebumps. I gave a nervous chuckle and bent my leg. He rested my good foot on his black shoes and with one quick move we were waltzing around the rooftop garden. I could smell the roses combined with Edward's cologne and just his regular smell.

I wanted to live in Edward's scent.

I needed to figure out what cologne he wore, and bathe in it.

The music ended and I didn't care. I didn't want to move. I was content.

I felt him quietly chuckle. Please, God, don't let him be laughing at me. I was having such a good time and for me to ruin it now would be mortifying.

I pulled back to look at him. His grip was tight, and I slid off his foot onto the ground so that I didn't hurt him anymore.

I looked up into his face and his green eyes were soft, full of emotion, and they fit the huge grin on his beautiful lips.

I felt the blush flare up on my face and race down my neck and I looked down at our feet. His hand came up and pulled my chin up.

"Now, now. I've finally gotten you to slow down enough to see you. Don't start hiding on me now."

His words confused me, but I was so captivated by his presence that I just didn't care.

I looked down for a split second, to watch my foot, and I heard him make a soft noise to catch my attention, an "I got this" in a simple grunt. I looked up quickly and got caught in his eyes They were deep and shimmering with a pleased pleasure, with a flash of "do it". His nose touched mine, and my eyes closed at the warmth. I could feel the magnetic pull that brought us together and his soft warm mouth was on mine. I had to keep repeating to myself to go easy because it felt so good. He tasted so much like sake and I wanted more. As the kiss broke he closed the gap, and buried his face into my neck. I mirrored his actions, our bodies charged with the pleasant feeling of how well this was going. Far better than the 'worst case scenarios' I ran through as we reached the door to the garden.

The music's changed from a soft jazzy pop song to a soft piano solo. I recognized it but couldn't place it.

"Who is this?" I asked. His head was turned slightly, but he didn't look at me. "I've heard this somewhere." I pushed his face back to me. "This is you isn't it?" I whispered, my mouth breaking into a smile.

He blushed hard, from neck to hairline and I smiled. I liked putting him on the spot like this. That blush made my insides turn and drop like I was on a roller coaster. I ran my hand through his hair, still smiling like a loon. He started to laugh.

"Edward?" His face shot up. "This has been fun. Thank you." With that, all the tension rolled off his body and he gave me an honest smile.

"I'm glad. I'm no good at this stuff. I'm sorry."

"No. No, don't be. The sushi was great. It's from my favorite restaurant and everything was delicious, and the music and dancing was really nice."

The darkness of night was closing in and soon it was going to be difficult to navigate off the roof, so we decided the evening was over. Edward packed everything up and he wheeled me back to the elevator.

"So when is your next show?" I asked him on the ride back down. Finding out that he was a composer and piano player for the opera company was very interesting. I had never been to a live show, until now.

"Two weeks. The opera is in full dress rehearsals now."

He stopped at my door and smiled warmly as I fished out my key.

"Bella, I had a really great time with you tonight," He said pushing me inside my apartment. I turned around nervously, knowing that this was the end of my dream night. "I would love it if you and I could do something later."

"Sure. I think it's my turn to do dinner."

He bent over and kissed me again, this time with a little more hunger pushing him. I started to laugh as our kisses slowed.

"Deal."

"Good night, Edward." I watched him back out of the room, his eyes never leaving me.

"Good night, Bella," He said, his face flushed with lust. I was about to let myself go giddy but instead I gave him a little wave and shut the door. I locked the door and rolled over to the window to make sure my date got home. Sure enough, his lights popped on and his dark shadow played against the walls. I pulled away from the window with a smile on my face.

That is, until I saw a faint glow from across the courtyard.

Lanky Man was sitting at his window, in the dark, smoking. The glowing ember at the tip of his cigarette was all I could see.

AN:::

I would like to say thank you to the fans who read all these stories written for and by fans of this story. Thank You to MY fans... Thank You for sticking with me, when i just felt lost.

An ENORMOUS THANK YOU TO KnittingFynatyc for Beta-ing me yet again, after all this time.

Thank you to KnittingFynatyc, TheBetham, for listening to my dribbles of story ideas and telling me "OMG that sounds AWESOME." and making me feel normal when the world was crashing down, and all i wanted to do was crawl in a hole.

Thank you to those like kiltmama, ashpags, pmsgeisha, naelany, knit1purr2, Megi, maylin, MaleficentKnits Teenuh, Criosa and all the UU peoples... Thank you for sticking with me... and not hating me too much.

Thank you... i hope you enjoyed.


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